In art, towering Mandela lives on

A Chinese painter has been given the task of depicting Nelson Mandela's tumultuous times

For almost a year Li Bin, a painter from Shanghai, has buried himself in piles of books and DVDs about the life of Nelson Mandela.

Li has been engaged in an ambitious project a 30-meter-long, 3.3-meter-high oil painting depicting the life of the anti-apartheid hero.

After paying daily attention to Mandela's declining health over the past few months, Li felt more relief than grief when he heard that the former president of South Africa had died.

"More than grief, I felt relieved," says the painter, 65, in his studio in Shanghai Pudong New Area. "He really deserves to rest in peace, because he worked so hard all his life. Now he will live forever in people's hearts."

Li has a reputation for painting historic events and great figures. Some of the prominent people he has portrayed include Sun Yat-sen, China's democratic revolutionary leader, and Madame Soong Mei-ling, widow of the late Chiang Kai-shek.

"Nelson Mandela is a hero I have wanted to depict for a long time," Li says.

He recalls that when he was in New York in 1990, he was impressed by the fervent mood of the people there when they welcomed Mandela who had just been released after 27 years in prison.

"All of Manhattan was covered with festive decorations, and people of all races saluted their hero, Mandela," he recalls.

Since then Li has paid special attention to the freedom fighter, and in 2012 he was offered the opportunity to paint him.

A Chinese entrepreneur in South Africa invited him to paint a portrait of Mandela as a gift to the South African government. Li happily agreed.

He went to Johannesburg early last year visiting the Apartheid Museum and meeting Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela's grandson. During the 10-day visit, Li tried his best to collect information about Mandela. At the city square, he took many photos of local people so he include them in his painting.

"We had the chance to visit Mandela himself but we were advised not to do so considering his poor health," he says, adding that the image of Mandela was not that important to the painting.

"His image is well known to the world. The key is to show his spirit."

But how could anyone extract the essence of Mandela's tumultuous 95 years and put it on a huge painting? Li chose to present four decisive eras in that life: the prisoner, the president, the peacemaker and the funeral.

Li made the overall color spectrum of the painting like a rainbow, echoing South Africa's nickname of the Rainbow Nation.

The first part shows a middle-aged Mandela reading in prison against a dark green backdrop in the shape of Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. When he was moved off Robben Island, he had become a mediator and a man of wisdom.

Li put Mandela's quotation "I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man" in a prominent place on the painting.

"He did not overthrow the rule of white people to establish a system where the black people rule against the white people," Li says. "Instead, he reflected on the unfair system and targeted it rather than a certain race of people.

"In his early days, he believed in using violence against his enemies. But after those years in prison, he came to believe that all people's lives, including those of his enemies, were worth cherishing. So he eventually convinced the authorities to give up violence and negotiate."

Then the dark red paint turns to saffron yellow in a bright scene from the country's first general election in 1994, when black people were allowed to vote for the first time.

One part of the painting shows Mandela walking toward the viewer against the backdrop of a green map of South Africa. In the background Mandela is coming out of prison, calming down rioters, being elected president and forming the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Behind Mandela stand more than a dozen men and women with clenched fists.

"I noticed that Mandela mentioned his friends and comrades when casting his vote," Li says. "So I painted them behind their leader, to show that the building of a new South Africa depended on the contribution of all these people."

The next part shows a white-haired Mandela surrounded by children of all races against a backdrop of the globe. Li also depicted Mandela's brokering of peace in international conflicts and his charity work.

Li is proud of the idea of the three green gems in the shape of Robben Island, South Africa and the globe. They go from dark to bright, small to large. This change, in Li's view, shows how Mandela's attitudes broadened and how he achieved his idealism step by step.

The painter is now focusing on the final part, Mandela's death. The world leaders who attended the memorial service and paid tribute will appear in the painting. Li will also paint himself among the mourners.

The painting is expected to be completed by April and will be exhibited in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of the world before finally reaching the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.

Zhu Xueqin, a history professor at Shanghai University, says the painting reflects Chinese artists' concerns with important international figures and a quick response to major international events.

But Zhu suggests that F. W. de Klerk, South Africa's last white president, who won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela, should have had a larger role in the painting.

"We should not forget it was de Klerk who helped Mandela achieve his historic feat," Zhu says.

Born in 1949 in Shanghai, Li was a Red Guard during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) and was sent to Beidahuang in northeastern Heilongjiang province. After returning to the city he studied painting and did graduate studies at the Central Art Academy in Beijing in the early 1980s. Most of his work has focused on reflecting the "cultural revolution".

Li Gongming, an art history professor at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, speaks highly of Li Bin's history paintings.

"Li Bin has held a critical attitude toward the 'cultural revolution' and has tried to spark thinking and reflection about the period through his paintings," he says.

"History paintings involve a lot of research and investigation of historical materials. Li Bin is serious about the truth of history and always spares no effort in interviewing people and gathering information on what he is painting.

"The fight against tyranny and the pursuit of freedom have been the themes that run through all his paintings."

wuni@chinadaily.com.cn